The sport of golf has always been a game that can be enjoyed by a wide array of players having different skill levels. In fact, the game of golf goes so far as to encourage players of different skill levels to complete with one another by creating a unique “handicap” scoring system that factor in the individual golfer's skill level resulting in a level playing field for all of its participants. Hence, in order to appeal to the needs of this diverse group of golfers, golf club designers have developed different golf clubs with multiple components all contributing differently to accommodate for the diverse needs of all the various different golfers.
Because golfers of different skill levels can often have diverging needs from their golf club in terms of performance, finding the right golf club to fit a particular golfer's needs can often be a difficult task due to the numerous variables that goes into the design of a golf club. Variables such as the loft, face angle, lie angle, shaft weight, shaft flex, club length, club weight, and/or swing weight of a golf club are just some of the variables that could be changed in order to correctly customize and fit a golf club to meet the performance needs of a specific golfer.
Traditionally, in order for a golfer to figure out the exact configuration of his or her golf club to meet the his or her needs, a massive amount of pre-constructed golf clubs, each having a different configurations, needs to be provided to the golfer at one location to allow the golfer to properly evaluate his specific needs. This need for a an excessive amount of golf clubs built to different specifications may generally be due to the fact that traditional golf clubs are built together using adhesives between the various components that can not be easily removed from one another.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,027,452 to Rusing provides one of the earlier attempts to address this non-adjustable and non-interchangeable nature of traditional golf clubs by providing a golf club that can be adjusted to modify both its lie and loft. This adjustment of the golf club is achievable by utilizing an annular seat with two rings that are wedge shaped with surfaces that are inclined relative to one another.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,890,269 to Burrows provides a more recent development into this technology by disclosing a temporary shaft-component connection for assembling a selected golf club shaft with a club head and/or hand grip segment, to facilitate custom club design and fitting to suit the needs and preferences of an individual golfer.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,476,160 to Hocknell et al. shows another modern golf club with an interchangeable shaft, wherein the golf club includes a tube mounted in the club head, and a sleeve mounted on a tip end of the shaft. The tube includes a tapered portion and a rotation prevention portion while the sleeve has a frustoconical portion and a keyed portion that are respectively received in the tapered portion and the rotation prevention portion of the tube.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0286619 to Beach et al. shows another different modern golf club with a connection assembly that allows the shaft to be easily disconnected form the club head. The connection assembly includes a removable hosel sleeve that allows a shaft to be supported at a desired predetermined orientation relative to the club head. In this manner, the shaft loft and/or lie angle of the club can be adjusted without resorting to traditional bending of the shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,722,475 to Thomas et al. shows another different modern golf club head that releasably engages with a shaft so that the club head and the shaft can be readily interchanged and/or so that the shaft position with respect to the club head can be readily changed. The assemblies for connecting the club head and the shaft may include a shaft engaging member that includes a rotation-inhibiting structure, a club head engaging member that includes a shaft-receiving chamber and a retaining structure for engaging the rotation-inhibiting structure, and a securing system for releasably securing the shaft engaging member with respect to the club head engaging member.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,438,645 to Hsu provides another example of a recent solution by providing an adjustable and interchangeable golf club by with a head, a retaining ring, a tightening ring, an adjusting sleeve, a hosel, a fixing sleeve, a coupler, and a shaft, wherein the pin is threadedly engaged with a transverse screw hole of the neck and a transverse screw hole of the hosel and extend into a transverse hole of the coupler, such that the shaft is pivotable about the pin to allow adjustment in the tilt angle between the shaft and the head.
As it can be seen from above, although these attempts to improve the customizability, adjustability, and interchangeability of a golf club is capable of providing an easier way for a golfer to try different golf clubs with different performance variables without the needs for multiple golf clubs, these complicated solutions used to achieve such adjustability all require an elaborate components near the hosel portion of the golf club head.
For starters, because these complicated adjustable contraptions all revolve around the hosel of the golf club head, the mere size of these additional components create a golf club head with a bulky and aesthetically unappealing hosel that detracts the golfer from being interested in such a product. However, the lack of aesthetic appeal is only the beginning of the undesirability of such a golf club head, as the multiple elements required to incorporate such an adjustable hosel contraption adds a significant amount of weight around the hosel portion of the golf club head. Having excessive weight around the hosel portion of a golf club head may generally be undesirable, as this excessive weight shifts the Center of Gravity (CG) of the golf club head higher and more forward.
It is generally understood in the industry that having a golf club head with a CG location that is higher and more forward is undesirable, as it shifts the CG away from the impact axis between a golf club and a golf ball. In fact, it is generally desirable to have the CG located in an opposite direction than what is described above, yielding a CG location that is lower and further back within the body of the golf club head. This lower and further back CG location may generally be in closer alignment with the impact axis, creating a more efficient energy transfer between the golf club and the golf ball. In addition to creating a more efficient energy transfer, a CG location that is lower and further back from the striking face of the golf club head may increase the Moment of Inertia (MOI) of the golf club head, as more weight being placed away from the impact plane of the golf club head could help the golf club head resist twisting when impacting a golf ball.
Hence it can be seen, there is tremendous need in the field for a golf club that incorporates the technological advancements associated with golf clubs that can incorporate all of the components necessary to offer a golf club that is releasable, adjustable, and/or interchangeable without unduly adding to the size and weight of the hosel. More specifically, there is a need in the field for a golf club head having an adjustable and interchangeable hosel, wherein the weight associated with the components are minimized, yielding a CG location that is lower and further back to improve the performance of the golf club head.